Conventional reforming processes for the direct reduction (DR) of iron oxide to metallic iron utilize NG that has been processed or cleaned to remove impurities, such as hydrocarbons (gases and liquids), excess carbon dioxide (CO2), sulfur (S), etc. Most reformers can handle some ethane (C2H6), propane (C3H8), butane (C4H10), and traces of C5+, but are primarily designed for reforming methane (CH4) with a top gas, for example. S acts as a catalyst poison and can only be tolerated in low ppm quantities, in the range of 5 to 10 ppm.
Thus, what is still needed in the art are systems and methods that replace the reformer with an alternative component that can convert clean or raw NG, clean or dirty COG, or the like to reducing gas/syngas suitable for DR with minimal processing or cleaning. Hydrocarbons and the like would be converted to hydrogen (H2) and carbon monoxide (CO). S would not affect the conversion to reducing gas/syngas, but would be removed or otherwise cleaned up by the iron bed in the DR shaft furnace.